Many businesses do not have long-term plans and instead operate on a day-by-day basis because of the issues the owners face. Strategic planning is essential to business growth and prosperity. It takes into consideration your own resources and capabilities, identifies gaps that are required for the business to thrive, and proposes solutions to address the gaps. Once this is completed an efficiency assessment is done and correction actions are provided to address the issues identified. The new business capabilities are then considered which will enable the creation of a three or five-year plan broken down into quarters.